Russian cosmonaut Yurchikhin was at the controls of the spacecraft as it undocked at 01:23 GMT from the station's Rassvet module. The trio landed at 04:46 (11:46 on Nov. 26 local time) at a site northeast of the town of Arkalyk.
First to exit the capsule was Russian cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin, commander of the Soyuz spacecraft during launch and landing. He has returned from his third trip to the International Space Station, having flown on a space shuttle construction flight in 2002 and the long-duration Expedition 15 mission in 2007. And now with this latest voyage completed, Yurchikhin has logged 371 days in space.
The trio launched aboard the Soyuz TMA-19 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on June 15. As members of the Expedition 24 and 25 crews, they spent 163 days in space, 161 of them aboard the station, and celebrated the 10th anniversary of continuous human life, work and research by international crews aboard the station on November 2.
During their mission, the Expedition 24 and 25 crew members worked on more than 120 microgravity experiments in human research; biology and biotechnology; physical and materials sciences; technology development; and Earth and space sciences.
The astronauts also responded to an emergency shutdown of half of the station's external cooling system and supported three unplanned spacewalks by Wheelock and Expedition 24 Flight Engineer Tracy Caldwell Dyson to replace the faulty pump module that caused the shutdown. Their efforts restored the station's critical cooling system to full function.
As alraedy mentioned Yurchikhin has logged 371 days in space, Wheelock 178 days and Walker 163 days.
With Expedition 25 back on the planet safe and sound, the International Space Station continues to circle Earth with the new Expedition 26 crew of commander Scott Kelly and Russians Alexander Kaleri and Oleg Skripochka. Their increment officially began when the Soyuz TMA-19 undocked.
Juan Martín Canales Romero
ISS Columbus Operations Coordinator
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